For the first half of last year's NFC Championship Game, it looked like the Detroit Lions were headed for their first Super Bowl. No need to rehash how the second half went, but the dynamic has changed with the Lions now the proverbial "hunted" rather than the "hunter."
This spring, head coach Dan Campbell noted the challenge heading into this season.
“I mentioned this last year and I’ll say it again: It’s going to take a lot more than it did last year to get to where we were,” Campbell said. “That’s just the nature of how it goes. But we’re going to be more than capable of doing that. Things got to go your way, but it does start with you. It starts with those players, starts with the coaches. We’ve got to put the work in."
Putting in the work will not be an issue for the Lions, be it coaches or players. They are embracing the expectations around them, and they expect to deliver. But as they emerge from their own lackluster franchise history, there's a piece of conference history working against them.
History working against Lions taking next step this season
As part of his training camp preview, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press noted the history of recent NFC runner-ups the following season.
No NFC runner-up has gone on to win the Super Bowl the next season since the Green Bay Packers in 1996. The Packers lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the 1995 NFC title game, then they beat the Bill Parcells, Drew Bledsoe-led New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI after the 1996 season.
Before last year’s 49ers, no NFC team that lost in the previous year’s conference championship game had advanced to the Super Bowl since the 49ers also did it under Jim Harbaugh in 2012. Of the 10 NFC runners-up from 2012-2021, five failed to make the playoffs. Campbell was on the New Orleans Saints' coaching staff when they lost the NFC Championship Game in 2018 then lost their first playoff game in 2019.
This is the kind of thing that, should they be aware of it, will further motivate the Lions this season. But there's no denying nearly 30 years of NFC runner-ups failing to take the next step to win the Super Bowl the following year, with many not reaching the conference title game that following year.
